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Emperor Maximilian 



PoRFiRio Diaz 



Our Mexican Conflicts 



Including a Brief History of Mexico from 
the Sixth Century to the Present Time 



By 

Rev. Thomas B. Gregory 




HEARST'S INTERNATIONAL LIBRARY CO. 
NEW YORK 1914 



E'^0^ 



'U-. 



Copyright, 1014, by 
The Star Co. 

Copyright, 1914, by 
Hearst's International Library Co. 



JUL 23 1914 

CI.A374006 



EARLY HISTORY OF MEXICO 

THE earliest inhabitants of the country 
now called Mexico were the Toltecs, a 
branch of the Nahua Nation, the origi- 
nal home of which was the region known to 
them by the name of Aztlan. 

Where Aztlan was is still one of the great 
unsolved problems of the students of early 
American history. It may have been located ^ 
in the northern portion of Mexico, it may 
have been in what is now New Mexico, it may 
have been any one of a dozen other locali- 
ties ; all that we know with certainty is that 
it was northward of the Valley of Mexico. 
The balance of evidence is in favor of the 
hypothesis that Aztlan was the same as the 
present-day New Mexico. 

It was in the Sixth Century that the 
Toltecs, impelled by causes that are un- 
known to us, left Aztlan and planted them- 



Our Mexican Conflicts 

selves at various commanding points in the 
territory of Anahuac, the ancient name of 
Mexico. 

Tollan, the present Julu, seems to have 
been the original seat and center of the 
Toltec power. It was at Tollan that the 
" Serpent Hill " was located, a point about 
which center so many of the Toltec legends 
and traditions. 

It was about the year 1168, according to 
the Codex Ramirez, that the Toltecs aban- 
doned Tollan and planted themselves further 
south in the Valley of Mexico, and in 1325 
Mexico City was founded. 

It was probably from Aztlan that the 
name of Aztec was derived, the cognomen by 
which the masters of the beautiful Valley 
of Mexico came to be known. 

Ethnologically the Aztecs belong to the 
" Red " or " Indian " breed of men, and there 
is much to show that, along with the other 
branches of the same stock, they came from 
Asia, by way of Bering Strait, and gradually 

6 



Our Mexican Conflicts 

worked their way south toward this final 
habitat in the Land of the Sun. 

It may be interesting to learn that their 
capital, Mexico City, called by them Tenoch- 
titlan, was a place of no mean proportions, 
having some three hundred houses and a pop- 
ulation of at least one hundred thousand. 
Should there seem to be a difficulty about the 
small number of habitations as compared with 
the population, it may be said that the houses 
were very large, some of them being capable 
of caring for a large number of people. 
When the Spaniards took the city, for in- 
stance, their entire force, four hundred and 
fifty strong and a thousand Tlascalan 
allies, were all accommodated in a single 
dwelling. 

Politically, the Aztecs were a Confederacy 
of tribes, dwelling in pueblos, governed by a 
council of Chiefs, and collecting tribute from 
the surrounding regions. Says Fiske, our 
very highest authority on the subject: " What 
has been called the ' Empire of the Monte- 

7 



Our Mexican Conflicts 

zumas ' was in reality a Confederacy of three 
tribes, the Aztecs, Tezcucans and Tlacopans, 
dwelling in the large pueblos situated very 
close together in one of the strongest defensive 
positions ever occupied by Indians." 

Continuing, Fiske assures us that the Aztec 
Confederacy was essentially similar to the 
sway of the Iroquois Confederacy over a 
great part of the tribes between the Connec- 
ticut River and the ^lississippi. It was sim- 
ply the levying of tribute — a system of i^lun- 
der enforced by terror. The notion of an 
immense population groaning under the lash 
of taskmasters, and building huge " palaces " 
for idle despots must be dismissed. 

In civilization the Aztecs belonged, at the 
time of the Spanish Conquest, to what is 
known as the "Middle Status of Barbarism; 
one stage higher than the Mohawks and one 
stage lower than the Warriors of the Iliad." 
Instead of being, as Draper claimed for them 
in his " Intellectual Development of Europe," 
the moral and intellectual superiors of the 

8 



Our Mexican Conflicts 

Europeans of the Sixteenth Century, the 
Aztecs were still well within the confines of 
Barbarism. They were cannibals; their reli- 
gion, if religion it may be called, centered 
around the worst form of human sacrifice; 
and in political science they had advanced no 
further than the tribal system found among 
the Iroquois at the date of the arrival of 
Columbus. Says Fiske: "There is an in- 
creasing disposition among scholars to agree 
that the Warriors of Anahuac and the Shep- 
herds of the Andes, were just simply Indians, 
and that their culture was no less indigenous 
than that of the Cherokees or Mohawks," and 
from this verdict there seems to be no way 
of escape. 

It was in the memorable year, 1519, that 
the Spaniard Cortez broke into the Aztec 
Country. There is nothing in the literature 
of pure romance to equal the solid facts clus- 
tering around the expedition of Cortez. With 
four hundred and fifty men the Spaniard set 
out from Vera Cruz to conquer an empire 

11 



Ou7^ Mexican C(5nflicts 

of unknown proportions and power, — and he 
succeeded. 

Early in March, 1519, Cortez landed at 
Tabasco, found the natives unfriendly, de- 
feated them in a sharp skirmish, seized a fresh 
stock of provisions, and proceeded to San 
Juan de Ulloa, whence he sent messengers to 
Montezuma with gifts, and messages as from 
his Sovereign, Charles V. 

Then, after scuttling his ships, so as to 
make retreat impossible, he struck out from 
Vera Cruz for the City of Mexico. His lit- 
tle force of four hundred and fifty men, six 
small cannon and fifteen horses, might well 
have seemed an inadequate machine for the 
Conquest of Mexico, but there is nothing like 
courage and self-confidence, and in those mag- 
nificent qualities Cortez was rich above most 
of the men of whom we have any knowledge. 

It was on the 16th of August that Cortez 
started from Vera Cruz on his famous march 
toward the Aztec Capital. Before he had 
penetrated very far into the interior he was 

12 



Our Meocican Conflicts 

met by some 20,000 Tlascalans, whom he 
routed without much effort, and then bring- 
ing his diplomacy to bear upon them he per- 
suaded the Tlascalans to become his allies. 
His further advance was unchecked, and in 
due time he arrived in sight of his goal — the 
Capital City of the Montezumas. 

To his utter astonishment Cortez was re- 
ceived by Montezuma with kindness and hos- 
pitality — a reception for which he was to 
return a strange sort of reward. The first 
care of the invader was to fortify himself in 
one of ihe " palaces " of the King, for the idea 
struck him that he was in great danger, not- 
withstanding the cordiality of his reception. 

More and more impressed with this convic- 
tion, he conceived, and promptly carried out, 
one of the most daring projects revealed in 
history. Having repaired with his officers to 
the palace of Montezuma, he announced to 
the Sovereign that he must either accompany 
him or perish. Loaded with irons, Monte- 
zuma was made to acknowledge himself a vas- 

13 



Our Meooican Conflicts 

sal of the Emperor Charles V., after which 
he was restored to a semblance of liberty, but 
not until he had presented the conqueror with 
600,000 marks of pure gold, and a prodigious 
quantity of precious stones. 

Scarcely had this audacious business been 
transacted when Cortez learned of the land- 
ing at Vera Cruz of a Spanish Army under 
Narvaez, which had been sent by Velasquez 
to compel him to renounce his command. 
Leaving two hundred men in the City of 
Mexico, Cortez marched against Narvaez, de- 
feated him and made him a prisoner. 

Enhsting under his banner the men who 
had come to put him out of power, Cortez 
set out on his return journey to the capital. 
Upon his arrival, he found that the Mexicans 
had revolted against their sovereign and the 
Spaniards, and that he was in the midst of 
very great peril. Montezuma perished in the 
act of trying to pacify his revolted subjects; 
a new Head Man was chosen by the revolu- 
tionists, and the Spaniards were furiously at- 

14^ 




Aztec Priest SACRiFicmo a Human Victim to the 

Sun 



Our Meocican Conflicts 

tacked. As the only means of escaping de- 
struction the invaders decided to retreat. 
During the retreat their rear-guard was badly 
cut up, and for six days they suffered severely 
at the hands of the Mexicans, who pursued 
them in overwhelming numbers. 

Elated with their success, the Mexicans of- 
fered battle in the plain of Otumba. This 
was just what Cortez wanted, and it proved 
their destruction. Cortez gave the signal for 
battle (it was on the 7th of July, 1520) and 
the victory that he gained settled the fate 
of INIexico. 

Immediately after his triumph at Otumba, 
Cortez marched a second time against the 
City of Mexico, which, after a hard struggle 
of some two months, was retaken on the 13th 
of August, 1521. 

Thus ended the political existence of the 
Aztec Nation, and from that famous Thir- 
teenth of August, 1521, Modern Mexico be- 
gins. With that date the native history of 
Mexico abruptly and forever ends. 

17 



Our Meccican Conflicts 

The history of Spanish Mexico — from 1521 
to 1821, that is, from the conquest of the 
country by Cortez to the recognition by Spain 
of Mexican independence — is soon told. The 
Spanish administration was marked by few 
stirring events. Warlike expeditions and civil 
strifes were of infrequent occurrence. " New 
Spain," as it was called, was simply a monop- 
oly that was worked for all it was worth for 
the enrichment of the privileged classes who 
squatted down upon the country either in per- 
son or by proxy in the shape of their agents. 
The Spanish rule was easy, apart from the 
greed for gold, and among neither the Euro- 
pean stock, the Creoles, nor the Indians was 
there for a long period any sign of discontent. 

But gradually the spirit of revolt began 
to show itself, and the long-smoldering dis- 
content broke out, in 1810, with the revolu- 
tion that was headed by Don Miguel Hidalgo. 
After Hidalgo's defeat the struggle was con- 
tinued by Morelos. Morelos was defeated and 
executed in 1815 — the year of Waterloo — ^but 

18 



Our Meooican Conflicts 

a guerilla warfare kept the revolutionary feel- 
ing alive till a fresh stimulus was given to it 
by the Spanish Revolution of 1820. Under 
the leadership of the " Liberator " Iturbide, 
Mexican independence was again proclaimed 
on February 24, 1821, and the same year the 
capital was surrendered by O'Donaju, the last 
of the Viceroys. 

From 1821 to 1835 there is nothing of con- 
sequence to relate. In the latter year lots of 
ginger was put into Mexican history by the 
secession of Texas and the Texan fight for 
independence ; and still more ginger came with 
the war between Mexico and the United 
States in 1846-47, but inasmuch as these mat- 
ters are fully dealt with elsewhere in this 
volume, it is quite unnecessary to dwell upon 
them here. 

Passing over these affairs, then, the history 
of Mexico may be resumed at the very inter- 
esting point where the ill-fated Austrian 
Archduke Ferdinand Maximilian comes upon 
the stage. 

21 



Our Meooican Conflicts 

Maximilian and Juarez 

Astrology may or may not be a true sci- 
ence, there may or there may not be " good " 
and " evil " stars, but if there are then surely 
Maximilian was born under the worst star 
that ever twinkled over one's nativity. And 
the man's life-story is all the more tragic from 
the fact that he was in no way responsible 
for the misfortune that came upon him. 

The Mephisto of the melancholy episode 
was the " Man on Horseback," Napoleon the 
Third, sometimes called " IVapoleon the Lit- 
tle " to distinguish him from Napoleon the 
Great. The roots of the tree of history reach 
far back into the past, and hence the fruitage 
of to-day often draws its vitalizing sap from 
the distant years. Napoleon III was a 
Frenchman of the Frenchmen, a thorough- 
going Latin, with all of the Latin predilec- 
tions and reveries, and because of this fact 
his Majesty was fond of flirting with the 
fancy of a Latin Empire in Mexico, to off- 

22 



Our Meooican Conflicts 

set the influence and prestige of the mighty 
Anglo-Saxon Commonwealth to the north of 
it. Were not the French beaten by the 
Anglo-Saxon breed in the dramatic struggle 
for supremacy on the North American Con- 
tinent, and would it not be a fine thing now 
to establish a Latin dominion on that same 
continent ? 

" It would be a charming thing to do," 
thought Napoleon, " and now is the time to 
do it. The Mexicans are up to their necks in 
revolution and the United States has the 
struggle of its life on its hands. The South 
will put nothing in my way, and as for the 
North, it has all that it can do to keep the 
Southerners from beating them and splitting 
the nation in twain. Now is my time to 
act." 

It was in the year 1862, when the United 
States was in the midst of its death grapple 
with the veterans of Lee and Jackson, that 
the first instalment of French troops were 
landed on Mexican soil; and by May of the 

23 



Our Meooica7i Conflicts 

following year (1863) the Emperor's forces, 
under Marshal Bazaine, were ready for the 
march to Mexico City. On the fifth of June 
the victorious French entered the capital, and 
the first act in the drama was successfully 
pulled off. 

An " Assembly of Notables," made up 
wholly of Napoleon's creatures, met in the 
city and voted to establish a " limited heredi- 
tary monarchy, with a Roman Catholic Prince 
as Emperor." 

Of course, the whole thing had been " in 
soak " for months, and the " Emperor " had 
even been selected. Such being the case, it 
was not strange that Maximilian, when in- 
vited to accept the high honor, modestly con- 
sented. Later on, he was met by the deputa- 
tion at Mirama and formally offered the 
crown. He decided to take the royal bauble, 
and on May 29, 1864, the Emperor and Em- 
press landed at Vera Cruz. On the 12th of 
June the royal pair entered the City of Mex- 
ico, where they were, with all due ceremony, 

24 




o 
w 

X! 

o 
o 

•55 



Our Meocican Conflicts 

installed into the high office which had so 
unexpectedly been thrust upon them. 

But Maximilian's throne rested upon the 
arms of France, and when in 1866 the French 
soldiers were removed, he found himself face 
to face with Juarez, the purest patriot and 
greatest man that appears in Mexican history. 
Juarez, though a full-blooded Indian, was a 
man of extraordinary intellectual power, a 
born administrator and as full of resources 
as an egg is of meat. Juarez fought Maxi- 
milian as Hannibal did the Romans, but with 
this additional result, — he won out. The 
heroic man, in the midst of innumerable diffi- 
culties, kept up the fight, and finally, after 
a siege of sixty-seven days' duration, recap- 
tured his country's Capital city, reinstituted 
the Republic and earned the eternal admira- 
tion not only of all patriotic Mexicans but 
of the lovers of fair play all over the world. 

Almost simultaneously with the entry of 
the Patriot forces in Mexico City, the inno- 
cent cause of all the trouble, the Emperor 

27 



Our Mexican Conflicts 

Maximilian, was shot. The Emperor died 
game, as was most becoming to him, for he 
was as fine a gentleman as ever breathed. 
Pure in his private Hfe, generous and at heart 
just and merciful, he deserved a happier 
death. His one want was long-headedness. 
Had he possessed the far-sight in which he 
was so deficient, he would not have permitted 
himself to become the catspaw of the design- 
ing French Emperor. The true wisdom 
would have told him that the business must, 
of necessity, end in disaster and, in all proba- 
bihty, in death for himself and mourning for 
his house. 

For quite apart from the improbability of 
his being able to hold his ground against the 
rank and file of an incensed people, upon 
whom he was thrust by a foreign will, there 
was the United States to be reckoned with, a 
power which, he might have known, would 
never permit its Monroe Doctrine to be 
scouted by the Crowned heads of the Old 
World. 

2» 



Our Mexican Conflicts 

And that which would have been foreseen 
by any clear-headed man came to pass. After 
wearing out the matchless valor of the sol- 
diers of the South, the United States Gov- 
ernment gave Louis Napoleon clearly to un- 
derstand that it would not be well for him 
to longer retain his soldiers upon Mexican 
soil, and taking the hint, the meaning of 
which he fully comprehended, he took his 
troops away — and the rest followed as natu- 
rally and inevitably as light follows sun- 
rise. The Latin Empire fell like a house of 
cards, and the dream of the royal visionary 
went up in smoke. 

It is hardly necessary to say that but for 
the War between the States the Maximilian 
episode would never have gotten into history. 
It would have " died a-borning " at a single 
stamp of Uncle Sam's foot. As it v/as, with 
a struggle for our very national life upon 
our hands, we were obliged to w^ink at Napo- 
leon's iniquitous project, and to quietly en- 
dure his effrontery until such time as we 

29 



Our Meocican Conflicts 

should be able to meet him with effective 
arguments. 

But all's well that ends well, and the im- 
pudent and most unrighteous scheme of Na- 
poleon resulted finally in a way that was 
grateful to gods and men. The " Man on 
Horseback " died throneless and in exile, 
after being forced to drink deeply of the cup 
of humiliation, and his empire was trans- 
formed, by the common sense of the French 
people, into a Republic that promises never 
again to be duped by the wearer of a crown. 

Mexico swung back to Democracy, and is 
now, by the stern logic of necessity, rapidly 
approaching the time when she will be a part 
of the United States of America, under whose 
just and benign guidance she will begin, for 
the first time in her history, to taste of the 
blessings of peace, liberty, and true progress. 

And surely, it must strike everyone as be- 
ing a most excellent idea, that the history of 
the Land of the Aztecs should end with an- 
nexation to the great Republic of Washing- 

30 



Our Meccican Conflicts 

ton. The gloom and horrors of the Canni- 
bahstic Centuries preceding the Spanish Con- 
quest; the even greater horrors instituted by 
Cortez, and his robbers; the stagnation of the 
long rule under the Spanish Viceroys; the 
perpetual agitation prevailing since the estab- 
lishment of independence, would receive their 
fitting complement and fulfillment in physical 
and political union with the mighty people of 
the United States. 



31 



Our Last War With Mexico 

and the 

Present Mexican Question 



United States Jackies Fighting in Vera Cruz 



OUR LAST WAR WITH MEXICO 

How It Started, How It Was Fought, What 
It Cost in Lives and Money and What 
We Gained hy It 

The Story or Texas 

I AM to write a complete story of the 
Mexican War of 1846-47 — its cavises^ con- 
duct and results — a true and faithful ac- 
count of the things that led up to it; its bat- 
tles and battle-losses; and the consequences 
of the memorable conflict, as summed up in 
the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo; so that 
readers may have a thorough understanding 
of that most important page of our Ameri- 
can history. 

Let it be understood, however, that no 
intelligible account can be given of the Mexi- 
can War without first telling the story 

37 



Our Mexican Conflicts 

of Texas. It was largely on account of 
Texas that the United States had its bat- 
tle-clash with Mexico, and the Lone Star 
State must first of all receive our atten- 
tion. 

So far as we know, the first white man to 
gaze upon the broad prairies of Texas was 
the Spaniard Alonzo Alvarez de Pinedo, in 
the year 1519. Between 1540 and 1543 
Coronado and De Soto may possibly have 
visited the region, but the earliest attempt 
at a permanent stay was not made until 1684, 
when -the famous La Salle, of France, ef- 
fected a temporary lodgment near what is 
now Matagorda Bay. 

After La Salle's " flash in the pan," 
thirty-two years passed before the Spaniards 
planted themselves at San Antonio and St. 
Miguel de los Adalo. But these so-called 
settlements were little better than mission 
points, and when President Jefferson pur- 
chased the great province of " Louisiana " 
from Napoleon white men of any nationality 

38 




TJLClf.^'^ OCEi^3^ 



Our Meocican Conflicts 

were few and far between from Texas to 
California. 

The Treaty of 1819 

When Jefferson made his stupendous real 
estate deal with the great emperor it was un- 
derstood by the United States authorities that 
Texas was included in the deal, but, after 
long and acrimonious discussion, the United 
States, in 1819, in the treaty by which it 
acquired Florida, ceded to Spain and re- 
nounced forever its " rights, claims and pre- 
tensions " to Texas. 

In the Fall of the year 1820 Martinez, 
Governor of the Province of Texas, was 
greatly surprised and shocked when a Con- 
necticut Yankee rode into San Antonio and 
coolly requested that a tract of land be given 
to him as the site of a colony of Americans. 
The Yankee was Moses Austin, the " Fa- 
ther of Texas." While Austin was in the 
midst of his dickering with the Royal Gov- 
ernor, Mexico suddenly declared its inde- 

40 



Our Meocican Conflicts 

pendence of Spain, and, from the " Em- 
peror " Iturbide, Austin got permission to 
settle with his brother Americans. 

Slowly the Americans began to drift 
across the border, and by 1835 they num- 
bered approximately 15,000. They were al- 
waj^s ready to obey the laws which they them- 
selves had made and which they understood, 
for that had been their custom, and the cus- 
tom of their fathers, for many generations. 
But there was one thing they would never 
submit to — they would never submit to a 
race they regarded as inferior. They were 
industrious and brave, and their morality, on 
the whole, stood high. " The political con- 
ditions of their existence," says Rives, " were 
already difficult, and were certain to be- 
come more and more so, as the disproportion 
increased between the numbers and wealth 
of the colonists, on the one hand, and of the 
Mexicans on the other. On the side of the 
Mexicans was legal authority, backed by the 
distant government in the City of Mexico; 

41 



Our Meocican Conflicts 

on the side of the newcomers were industry, 
frugality, intelligence, courage. The strug- 
gle was inevitable." 

The Clash Inevitable 

The meeting of the Mexican Congress in 
January, 1835, helped along the inevitable 
(Jl clash. Barracan, a servile tool of the un- 
scrupulous Santa Anna, was declared Presi- 
dent, with power to make any constitutional 
changes he " might think were for the good 
of the people." The despot proved to be 
the prince of reactionists, and under his evil 
guidance what had been barely endurable be- 
came positively unbearable. 

Immediately the men of American blood 
resolved to rise against the mock government, 
and on November 7, 1835, a unanimous dec- 
laration was adopted setting forth that the 
people of Texas had taken up arms in de- 
fense of their rights and liberties which were 
" threatened by encroachments of military 
despots," and in defense of the " repub- 

42 



Our Meocican Conflicts 

lican principles " of the Constitution of 
1824. 

Of course, the Central Government got 
busy at once, a Mexican army was sent into 
Texas, its commander, Ramfrez, receiving 
from Santa Anna the significant hint: " YOU 
KNOW THAT IN THIS WAR THERE 
ARE NO PRISONERS." 

The battle vras on, and there was about 
to be written the story that will thrill men's 
souls forever! 

In all the annals of all the ages there is 
no name more glorious than that of the 
" Alamo," a name that is forevermore to be 
the watchword of lovers of liberty the world 
over and the ages through. Human valor and 
courage never mounted higher than they did 
in that Alamo fight, and in the very fore- 
front of the real heroes of history will al- 
ways stand Crockett, Travis, Bowie and the 
less known but equally brave men who died 
with them in that hallowed pile. 

For a long time the hundred and eighty 
43 



Our Mexican Conflicts 

Texans held their own against the four thou- 
sand Mexicans. Finally, well-nigh decimated, 
the bleeding remnant consented to surren- 
der, upon the solemn promise that they 
should be treated according to the usages of 
civiHzed warfare; and seeing, after they had 
made ready to lay down their arms, that 
the agreement was not to be kept, they fought 
till they died, and they died to a man. 

Remember the Alamo! 

The massacre of the Alamo only put fresh 
courage into the hearts of the Texans, and 
with "Remember the Alamo!" as their slo- 
gan, they met Santa Anna and his INIexicans 
upon the immortal field of San Jacinto, close 
bj^ the present enterprising citj^ of Houston, 
and gave them the worst thrashing that any 
army ever received on a battlefield. 

The Texans, under grand old Sam Hous- 
ton, numbered eight hundred, the Mexican 
force being about twice that figure, and what 

44 




Thomas Jefferson 



Our Meocican Conflicts 

happened is concisely told in Houston's re- 
port to the Governor of Texas: "Mexican 
loss six hundred and thirty killed, two hun- 
dred and eight wounded, and seven hundred 
and thirty prisoners — against a Texan loss of 
two killed and twenty-three wounded." 

Notice the wonderful disparity between the 
killed and wounded on the Mexican side — 
more than three killed to one wounded; when 
the ordinary rule, even in hotly contested 
fights, is five wounded to one killed. 

Evidently those Texans " meant busi- 
ness " when they went out to meet Santa 
Anna that morning. Nearly every Texan 
killed his man, to say nothing of the 
wounded and prisoners. Only thirty-two of 
the sixteen hundred Mexicans got away. 

If the whole story of war is able to show 
a smarter battle than the Texans put up at 
San Jacinto, will someone be kind enough to 
point out the time and place? 

San Jacinto made Texas a free Republic, 
and the "Lone Star Flag" took its place 

47 



Our Meocican ^Conflicts 

among the other banners of the independent 
nations. 

Texas in the Union 

It was akeady " manifest destiny " that 
Texas was to become a part of the United 
States, a member of the great political sis- 
terhood to which, in all essential ways, she 
was so nearly related. 

But politics, especially that part of it 
which revolved about the exciting subject of 
slavery, kept the Texan overtures to us at 
arm's end for a long time. Almost immedi- 
ately after the establishment of her inde- 
pendence the young Republic knocked for 
admission to the Union, but time and again 
the door refused to open. 

Finally, however. Congress, ashamed of its 
delay, invited her to come in, and on Febru- 
ary 16, 1846, J. Pinckney Henderson was 
elected Governor, and a month later Sam 
Houston and Thomas J. Rusk took their 
seats in the Senate of the United States. 

48 



Our Mexican Conflicts 

It was a prize such as seldom comes to 
any nation — a magnificent territory 57,000 
square miles larger than the whole German 
Empire, larger than all Europe, with Sweden, 
Norway, Holland and Belgium thrown in; 
an empire, in fact, capable with its mag- 
nificent resources of taking care of a popu- 
lation of a hundred million souls. Germany 
already has 68,000,000, and Texas is richer 
than Germany. 

It is no wonder that Mexico got wrathy 
over what she considered the theft of her 
splendid province. It was quite human and 
natural that she should have done so. 

It would be a crime to close this chapter 
without calling the reader's attention to the 
far-sighted wisdom and rock-ribbed patri- 
otism of President Polk. Polk has been 
placed by some of our historians among the 
small-caliber Presidents, and in brilliancy 
of intellect and dashing characteristics in gen- 
eral he was undoubtedly unworthy of com- 
parison with some of the other men who have 

49 



Our Mexican Conflicts 

sat in the Presidential Chair; but in a quiet 
way he was as great as any of them — a man, 
in fact, of the most heroic mold. 

As his secretary Buchanan kept at our 
Minister, John Slidell, to buy the disputed 
Texan territory, and not to forget to offer 
big inducements for the sale to us of Cali- 
fornia. He caused Slidell to be informed 
that money was no object, and that if we 
could do no better we would willingly pay 
$25,000,000 for California alone. 

Not without foundation was Polk's anxiety. 
Great Britain was moving heaven and earth 
to get hold of California, and the disputed 
region in Texas as well. Our envoy was ac- 
cordingly informed that he must exert him- 
self to the utmost to checkmate England, 
and that the United States must have 
the territory no matter what the price 
was. 

The supreme importance of Polk's anx- 
iety, and the efforts born of that anxiety, 
may be seen at a glance. Great Britain was 

50 




o 

o 





MK' ^ 


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-^^^^^^^^^^H 


1 




^^felL-iiiZlS—itf 



Our Mexican Conflicts 

eager to recoup herself for the loss of the 
Atlantic seaboard by getting the Pacific 
Coast; and, but for the tireless work of Polk, 
she would have succeeded. In that case we 
would have been forever blocked from the 
West, except at the cost of a bloody and ex- 
pensive war. 

That we are to-day the owners of the 
Pacific Seaboard is a fact that we owe to 
James K. Polk. The acquisition of the cov- 
eted territory was the pivot upon which his 
whole pohcy turned, and he rested not until 
he had achieved his high and worthy am- 
bition. 

Mr. Buchanan, a pure patriot and most 
excellent gentleman, was timid to the verge 
of cowardice, and withal, was a great stickler 
for peace, and if the matter had been left 
to him Great Britain would have obtained 
both Oregon and California, but Polk — 
called by the brilliant Whig orator, S. S. 
Prentiss, " a blighted burr, fallen from the 
mane of the War-horse of the Hermitage " — 

53 



Our Meocican Cdnflicts 

saved the day, and, we may almost say, saved 
the Nation. 

Mr. Prentiss was the most gifted orator 
that this country has ever produced, but he 
died, and his speeches died with him, and if 
he ever did anything permanently great it 
has never been discovered; but the "burr" 
blocked the mightiest nation at that time on 
earth, and our hereditary political foe, in the 
attempt to keep us forever away from the 
shores of the Great Western Sea. 

Causes of 1846-47 Conflict 

I will set forth the causes, occult and other- 
wise, that led up to the Mexican War of 
1846-47. Like everything else that happens 
in the world, that momentous struggle came 
about because of certain other things that 
had happened before it, and without which 
it would never have taken place. 

In the enumeration of the propelling 
causes of the war must come, first of all, 

54 



Our Meociccm Conflicts 

the fact of the difference of race, the irre- 
pressible opposition of breed, the uncom- 
promising friction that has always and every- 
where existed between the independent, pro- 
gressive, self-reliant Saxon and the docile, 
reactionary Latin. 

Occupying the same continent, with noth- 
ing but an imaginary line, or a narrow 
stream, between them, it was inevitable that 
there should be misunderstandings, disagree- 
ments, clashing convictions — in a word, all 
sorts of trouble. 

Here, then, in this basic fact of BREED 
we have the primary cause of the Mexican 
War. It made trouble from the start, it 
is making trouble to-day, and it will keep 
on making trouble until, in the " struggle 
for life," the "fittest" holds the helm and 
guides the ship. 

Just now it was intimated that among the 
other differences between the Saxon and the 
Latin was the MORAL one; and it was in 
this difference that we are to find another 

55 



Our Mexican Conflicts 

of the causes that brought on our armed 
conflict with JNIexico. 



A Wicked, Unjust Neighbor 

The population of Mexico in 1846 was, ap- 
proximately, 8,000,000, and of the 8,000,000 
at least 85 per cent were peons and half- 
b]*eeds of various descriptions, without social 
standing or political influence, mere human 
nondescripts, leaving the Government and its 
policies to be shaped by the million or so of 
pure Latins, and what those policies were is 
well known to all men. 

Mexico had from the beginning proven it- 
self to be an unjust and wicked neighbor. 
It was such under the imperial government 
of the Mother Country; it was even worse 
under its own so-called republican rule. 

Always fighting among themselves, they 
were always impoverished, and they did not 
hesitate to replenish their ever-depleted treas- 
ury by plundering American vessels in the 

5Q 




The Defense of the Alamo 



Our Mexican Conflicts 

Gulf of Mexico or wherever else they could 
find them, and by confiscating the property 
of American merchants within its borders. 

Robberies were frequent. Brigandage was 
of common occurrence. The murder of 
American citizens living in the country, or 
of Americans journeying through it, was 
a matter that provoked slight comment by 
the authorities or the people. 

The United States Government remon- 
strated, but remonstrated in vain. The rob- 
bery, murder and confiscation went right on 
regardless of the protests of our Govern- 
ment. In 1831 a treaty was made between 
the two countries, and promises of redress 
were given, but the pledged faith of Mex- 
ico was never fulfilled. 

By 1845 the aggregate value of property 
belonging to Americans that had been ap- 
propriated by the Mexicans amounted to over 
seven millions of dollars. This claim was 
still unsatisfied when the annexation of Texas 
took place in the above-mentioned year. 

59 



Our Mexican •Conflicts 

Texas In; Mexico Frantic 

The annexation of Texas! Here we have 
one of the big causes of the war with our 
Southern neighbor. When Texas joined the 
Union, Mexico became frantic. It is true 
Texas, driven to desperation by Mexican 
atrocities and Mexican misrule in general, 
had appealed to the arbitrament of arms, and 
in a fair fight had won her independence, 
and along with it the right to remain inde- 
pendent or cast her lot with the sisterhood 
of American States ; but Mexico did not seem 
to realize the fact; and her action was like 
that of a very bad and very foolish child. 

Of course, events moved on quite regard- 
less of the INIexican quibbling, and the Rio 
Grande and not the Nueces was decided to 
be the Lone Star State's western boundary. 

Still, like the bad, foolish child that she 
was, Mexico refused to recognize either the 
independence of Texas or its annexation to 
the United States; and to make matters still 

60 



Our Meocican Conflicts 

worse offered a direct affront to our Gov- 
ernment by refusing to receive its envoy, 
John Slidell. Arriving in the City of Mex- 
ico on the 6th of December, 1845, SKdell 
wrote the usual formal note to the Mexican 
Minister of Foreign Relations, inclosing a 
copy of his credentials, and asking that a 
date might be fixed at which he might be 
received by the President. 

To this very proper action on the part of 
Slidell the sequel came in the shape of a 
letter from the Minister which read as fol- 
lows: "The Supreme Government is ad- 
vised that the agreement which it entered 
into to admit a plenipotentiary of the United 
States with special powers to treat of the 
affairs of Texas does not compel it to receive 
an envoy extraordinary and minister pleni- 
potentiary to reside near the Government, 
in which character Mr. Slidell comes accord- 
ing to his credentials." 



61 



Our Meaican' Conflicts 

Asked for His Passports 

The action of the Mexican Government in 
refusing to receive the American INIinister 
ended, of course, all further discussion; and, 
as there was nothing else for Slidell to do, he 
asked for his passports, and returned home, 
to report to the President the supreme in- 
dignity that had been offered his nation. 

The foregoing facts are sufficient of them- 
selves to explain the reason of our war with 
Mexico in 1846-47. 

But there is another fact to be taken into 
consideration — the fact to which we have very 
properly given the name of " MANIFEST 
DESTINY." 

That self-preservation is the first law of 
life holds for nations even to a greater ex- 
tent than it does for individuals. 

Now, in 1846, this nation needed to expand. 
A law rigid as gravity, and high above all 
the considerations of what may well be called 
the minor moralities, was urging the Ameri- 

62 





< 

w 

CO 

»-5 



Our Mexican Conflicts 

can people to grow. To the west of them 
and to the southwest lay a mighty region that 
was almost wholly given up to silence and 
solitude, the inaction and unproductivity of 
the primeval wilderness. A few small tribes 
of wild men, a few missions, here and there 
a scant settlement of Mexicans, made up the 
human content of a splendid region almost 
a third the size of Europe. 

Why should it not be turned to the serv- 
ice of man? Why should it not be made the 
instrument of human civilization and prog- 
ress? The government under whose sover- 
eignty it had been for generations and ages 
was making no use of it — why not let those 
have it who would make use of it? 

Not only so, but the future — the twentieth 
century, the twenty-fifth century — was call- 
ing to us to provide for the PHYSICAL 
SOLIDARITY of the nation, to make its 
boundary line coincide with the dictates of 
reason and necessity, as well as of the un- 
mistakable hints of nature itself. 



Our Meocican Conflicts 

And so, the fiat went forth, and the deed 
was done. That it was a wicked deed, a 
deed that clashed with the larger morahties, 
remains to be proven. 

Unpreparedness of the American Army 

On the 24th day of April, 1846, the Mexi- 
can General Torre j on, with a considerable 
body of infantry and cavalry, crossed the 
Rio Grande and on the following day came 
upon a scouting party of twenty-six Ameri- 
can dragoons under Captain Thornton, who 
after a short skirmish were surrounded and 
captured. The American casualties were six- 
teen killed and wounded. 

The first blood of the Mexican War was 
shed, and it was up to the United States 
to do the rest. 

Our country was in a state of utter un- 
preparedness — no more ready to begin a war 
than it was to begin a trip to the moon. The 
regular army was hopelessly inadequate in 

66 




Zachary Tayloe 



Our Mexican Conflicts 

numbers, the whole force on paper being but 
8,616, the total number " present for duty " 
being only 643 commissioned officers and 
5,612 non-commissioned officers, musicians, 
artificers and privates — an aggregate of a 
little over six thousand. 

$10,000,000; 50,000 Men 

There was no plan of campaign. Congress 
voted $10,000,000 and 50,000 men, but no- 
body in the Cabinet or in the field seemed to 
have the least idea of how the money and the 
men were to be used. 

General Taylor, in command of the " Army 
of Occupation," with headquarters at Point 
Isabel, did not have much time to study the 
" rough diagram." The Mexicans, flushed 
by Torre jon's victory over the little squad 
of scouts, pressed ahead, and on the 5th of 
May attacked the American garrison at Fort 
Brown. 

The cannonade of the fort was almost 
69 



Our Meocican Conflicts 

incessant for one hundred and sixty hours, 
but the Americans stood by their guns 
and refused every summons to surrender. 
Suddenly, about noon of the 8th, they heard 
the sound of cannon in the direction of Point 
Isabel. General Taylor was marching to 
their succor. He had met the enemy and 
the battle of Palo Alto was in full swing. 

Palo Alto (meaning "Tall Timber") saw 
some tall fighting by Taylor and his little 
army. General Taylor's force was twenty- 
one hundred strong, and against him were 
eight thousand five hundred of the enemy 
under General Arista. From all accounts, 
Palo Alto presented an imposing and bril- 
liant scene, a broad, almost level, prairie, 
without a sod turned, or a fence or a wall 
for shelter, the opposing armies being face 
to face with each other for a fair, square, 
stand-up fight. 

For five hours the hotly contested struggle 
went on. Outnumbered to the tune of four 
to one, the day many times looked dark for 

70 



Our Meadcan Conflicts 

the Americans; but their superior fighting 
qualities and intelhgence finally gave them 
the victory, and Arista, beaten at every point, 
retired from the field. 

The First Casualties 

The losses in the battle of Palo Alto 
were: American, nine killed and forty-four 
wounded; Mexican, two hundred and fifty- 
two killed and wounded — five times that of 
the American casualties. It may be said in 
passing that the casualty list of Palo Alto, 
which will be found to be similar in char- 
acter throughout the story of the war, while 
it speaks well for the courage of the Mexi- 
cans, is a very poor compliment to their in- 
telligence. They were brave, oftentimes des- 
perately, foolishly brave, but they did not 
know how to aim. They lacked the coolness, 
self-possession and sense of their American 
opponents. 

At dawn on the morning of the 9th of 
May, Arista fell back some five miles to a 

71 



Our Mexican Conflicts 

strong position known as Resaca de la Palma. 
Taylor's army had been put in motion as soon 
as the retreat of the INIexicans was observed, 
and about four o'clock in the afternoon he 
came uj) with them, badly disorganized and 
without the least idea that they were to be 
attacked that day. 

But " Old Rough and Ready's " blood was 
up, and he sent his men in at once. Advanc- 
ing through the chaparral, they charged upon 
the INIexican line and soon had it broken up 
into little groups without a semblance of 
order. The INIexican right maintained the 
struggle for a while, supported by several bat- 
teries of artillery; but the memorable cavalry 
charge by Captain INIay soon put the artil- 
lery out of business, and the work was 
finished. 

The INIemorable Charge 

May's charge is worthy of being retold, in 
the words of an eye-witness, the gallant liieu- 
tenant Ridgely: 

72 




< 



H 

o 




o 



Our Meooican Conflicts 

"Riding up to my guns May shouted: 
* Where are they? I'm going to charge.' I 
replied ; ' Hold on, Charley, till I draw their 
fire.' I gave them a volley, and May dashed 
forward in column of fours, at the head of 
his squadron. 

" Storming right up to the breastworks in 
front of the guns. May leaped his horse over 
them, knocked the gunners from their pieces, 
and, riding up to the commanding officer, 
who was in the act of reloading a gun with 
his own hands, summoned him to surrender. 
La Yega yielded his sword and was sent 
into the American lines. Captain May's 
charge is still reckoned among the most 
daring and brilliant deeds of the 
war." 

The American strength at Resaca de la 
Palma (actually engaged) was seventeen 
hundred; that of the Mexicans exceeded six 
thousand. The American loss in the battle 
was 39 killed and 82 wounded. The Mexi- 
cans lost in killed 262, wounded 355, missing 

75 



Ou7' Meadcan Conflicts 

185, total 802 — between six and seven times 
the American loss. 

The Mexican retreat soon turned into a 
panic. The infantry threw away their cloaks, 
muskets and cartridge boxes to speed their 
flight. The horsemen urged on their jaded 
steeds regardless of the fallen, till they fell 
themselves, exhausted, on the road. 

The battles of Palo Alto and Resaca de la 
Palma staggered Mexico. 

On to California 

In accordance with the plan of campaign 
adopted by the Administration, the fifty thou- 
sand men authorized by Congress were as- 
signed to three divisions, the " Army of Oc- 
cupation," under Major-General Taylor; the 
*' Army of the Center," under Brigadier-Gen- 
eral Wool, and the "Army of the West," 
commanded by Brigadier-General Stephen 
W. Kearny. This last division was ordered 
to march to Santa Fe, seize upon the terri- 

76 



Our Meooican Conflicts 

tory of New Mexico and then push on west- 
ward to occupy Cahfornia. 

The " army " to which such a tremendous 
task had been committed numbered only 
1,658 men and sixteen pieces of artillery. 
Starting out from its rendezvous at Fort 
Leavenworth on the 26th of June, 1846, 
on the long march of more than two thou- 
sand miles, they reached Santa Fe August 
18 and took possession of the ancient city 
without the loss of a man. The American 
flag was run up to the top of a pole one 
hundred feet high, given the national salute 
of twenty-eight guns — and New Mexico was 
ours. 

Twice on their way to Santa Fe the Ameri- 
cans thought they were going to have the 
excitement of battle, but were disappointed. 
At Las Vegas 2,000 Mexicans lay across their 
path, but when Kearny was about ready 
to attack them the Mexicans fled. 

Again the disappointment came. From 
the Galhsteo Canyon, Don Manuel Armejo, 

77 



Our Meocican Conflicts 

Mexican Governor of New Mexico, sent 
Kearny word that he was ready for him 
with 7,000 men, and that if he would come 
on he would give him all the fight he wanted. 
The American accepted the invitation and 
kept on to the canyon, but Armejo and his 
Mexicans were not there. 

And now the Army of the West was to 
be divided. Colonel Doniphan, in command 
of all the forces of New Mexico, was to 
march southward into Chihuahua, while 
Kearny, with such force as he could mus- 
ter, was to proceed to the shores of the Pa- 
cific and capture California. 

Kearny left Santa Fe September 25 on 
his march of eleven hundred miles to San 
Francisco, his force consisting of 300 men 
and provisions for sixty-five days. On the 
6th of October he met a party led by Et 
Carson, who informed him that he was the 
bearer of dispatches to Washington announc- 
ing the occupation of California by the 
Americans. 

78 




James K. Polk 



Our Mexican Conflicts 

Commodores Sloat and Stockton, aided by 
a handful of American emigrants, had al- 
ready taken California, and General Kearny, 
returning with Carson as a guide, co-operated 
with the naval forces in strengthening the oc- 
cupation which had been so nicely begun. 

And now for Doniphan and Chihuahua. 
The redoubtable colonel, with a force of 1,000 
men and ten pieces of artillery, set out on 
his long march December 14. On Christmas 
Day he fovmd himself " up against " the 
equally redoubtable General Ponce de Leon. 

The Desert March 

Doniphan attacked, and in sixty minutes* 
time the enemy was beaten, with a loss of 75 
killed and 150 wounded. Doniphan's loss 
was eight men wounded, none killed. 

From Bracito Doniphan passed over into 
the Province of Chihuahua, and after his 
ever-memorable " Desert March," which al- 
most deserves to rank with that of Xenophon 

81 



Our Meocican Gonflicts 

and his ten thousand Greeks, found himself 
face to face with the enemy. 

At Sacramento were 4,300 Mexican regu- 
lars under General Jose A. Heredia. Heredia 
was so confident that he had provided 
ropes and handcuffs for the American pris- 
oners. 

Doniphan did not give his foe much time 
for jubilation, but pitched into him with all 
his might, with the result that the Mexicans 
were routed along the whole line. For three 
hours the volunteer soldiers of Doniphan, 
1,100 strong, engaged four times their num- 
ber behind well constructed intrenchments, 
and put them to rout. This smart battle oc- 
curred February 27, 1847. 

The Mexican loss was 320 men killed, 560 
wounded and 72 made prisoners, against an 
American loss of 1 officer killed and 11 men 
wounded. 

The beautiful province was now virtually 
in possession of the Americans, and by the 
same logic that we held New Mexico and 

82 



Our Meocican Conflicts 

California we were entitled to have held 
Chihuahua. 

Crossing the Rio Grande 

The course of events now brings us back 
to the East. General Taylor crossed the Rio 
Grande and took possession of Matamoras on 
the 18th of May, 1846, and all preparations 
being ready, he set out, late in August, for 
the City of Monterey, a strong place one 
hundred and eighty miles in the interior of 
Mexico. 

It is hardly fair to say that Monterey was 
" strong." It was a veritable Gibraltar, gar- 
risoned by 9,000 regulars; and to make mat- 
ters worse the American army was without 
heavy artillery. It was decided to attempt 
the capture of the place by assault at the 
point of the bayonet. The roll sounded at 
dawn of the 21st of September. 

From wall to wall, from street to street, 
from house to house, the 6,000 Americans, 
approaching from opposite sides, fought their 

85 



Our Meocican Conflicts 

way in toward the center of the city; and 
seeing they would not be denied, the Mexi- 
can commander, Ampudia, on the 23rd, sur- 
rendered. 

The American losses at Monterey were 
heavy, being over 500 in killed and wounded. 
The Mexican loss was about 1,000. 

The work of Doniphan and Taylor had by 
this time given all Northern Mexico into the 
hands of the Americans, 

Just as General Taylor was about to com- 
mence another campaign, General Scott or- 
dered him, by special messenger, to send a 
large part of his army to assist in the siege 
of Vera Cruz. By this order, which, soldier- 
like, he promptly obej^ed, Taylor was left 
with only about 5,000 men, to act on the de- 
fensive against 20,000 Mexicans, then gath- 
ering at San Luis Potosi under General Santa 
Anna. 

Hearing that he was about to be attacked 
by this overwhelming force, Taylor fell back 

86 



Our Mexican Conflicts 

from Saltillo to Angostura, near the little 
village of Buena Vista. 

Santa Anna, with his finely equipped army 
of 20,000 infantry, cavalry and artillery, left 
Encarnacion February 21, 1847, and the next 
day came up with the Americans at Buena 
Vista. 

The battle began, and the result speaks 
for itself — Mexican loss, 2,500 in killed and 
wounded and 4,000 missing; American loss, 
264 killed, 450 wounded. 

Vera Cruz, Chapultepec and Mexico 
City 

General Scott arrived off Vera Cruz with 
the larger part of the forces assigned to him, 
on the 9th of March, 1847, just two weeks 
after Taylor's brilliant victory at Buena 
Vista. He had about 12,000 troops, includ- 
ing the divisions of Generals Worth, Twiggs, 
Quitman and Pillow. 

The City of Vera Cruz at the time con- 
89 



Our Meooican Conflicts 

tained a thousand houses and seven thousand 
inhabitants. The houses were built of stone, 
two stories high, with flat roofs and parapets. 
It was situated on a dry plain, behind which 
rose sand hills, cut up with many ravines and 
covered with clusters of thick chaparral. 

The city was entirely surrounded by a mas- 
sive stone wall, two and a half miles in cir- 
cumference. On this wall there were nine bas- 
tions, mounting one hundred guns. Another 
hundred guns and mortars were in the city 
and in the defenses outside of the wall. 

Within the walls were five thousand troops, 
besides the citizens, most of whom were well 
armed. On an island about a mile in front 
of the city was the famous stone castle of 
San Juan d'Ulloa, built by the Spaniards in 
1582, and the foundations of whose walls, 
laid deep in the sea, had enabled it to with- 
stand the waves and storms of three 
centuries. 



90- 




o 

P 
W 

o 
o 

Eh 
W 



Ou7' Mexican Conflicts 

The Surrender to Scott 

The American line of investment was com- 
pleted by the 12th, and each division and regi- 
ment was given its place. Immediately the 
battle opened from both sides. The cannonad- 
ing was practically incessant, the Americans 
steadily getting the better of it, and on the 
26th, as Scott was about to order the final 
assault. General Morales informed him that 
he was ready to surrender. 

On the next day the articles of capitulation 
were drawn up and signed, and General Scott 
sent on to Washington his historic dispatch: 
'' The flag of the United States of Amer- 
ica now floats triumphantly over the walls 
of this city and the Castle of San Juan 
d'Ulloar 

" On to Mexico City! " then became the cry 
of the Americans; and while the Americans 
were shouting that slogan, Santa Anna, who 
had worked up a revolution in the capital and 
got himself elected President, was making 

93 



Our Mexican Conflicts 

the welkin ring with the cry: " On to Vera 
Cruz, to drive out the Gringos ! " 

The mutually advancing forces — the Amer- 
icans on their way to Mexico City, and the 
Mexicans on the march to Vera Cruz — met at 
Cerro Gordo, a strong position some sixty 
miles inland, April 18, 1847. After a stub- 
born fight of half a day's duration, the Mexi- 
cans were routed, retiring in great disorder 
toward the capital. 

The forces were, American, 8,000; Mexi- 
can, 14,000; losses, American, 439; Mexican, 
1,200. In addition, the Mexicans lost forty- 
five pieces of artillery, a vast amount of am- 
munition and 3,000 prisoners, including five 
generals. 

Peace Offer Spurned 

Following the victory at Cerro Gordo, 
General Scott offered the Mexicans peace, 
but their answer was, '' War without pity, 
unto death.'' 

Resuming their advance, the Americans, 
94 



Our Mexican Conflicts 

on May 15, reached Puebla, a city of 80,000 
inhabitants, where they remained until Au- 
gust 7, awaiting reinforcements. Leaving 
Puebla on the 7th, they gained the summit 
of the Cordilleras on the 10th, and down be- 
low them, in all its enchanting beauty, lay 
the City of Mexico, toward which they began 
an immediate descent. 

The City of Mexico, while not a walled 
town, was defended by several formidable 
works, which required capture if the place 
was to be entered. Chief among these forti- 
fications were the Hill of Contreras, the con- 
vent and bridge of Churubusco, and the re- 
markably strong fortress of Chapultepec. 

Two of these — Contreras and Churubusco 
— were disposed of on August 20. 

The Hill of Contreras, with its powerful 
intrenchments, was defended by seven thou- 
sand of the best troops in Mexico. It was 
attacked by 4,500 men under General Smith, 
with the usual results. The enemy was de- 
feated, with a loss of 700 in killed and 

95 



Our WIeocican Conflicts 

wounded, 800 prisoners and thousands of 
small arms. Incredible as it maj^ seem, the 
American loss was only about 50. 

The difficulty presented by Churubusco 
was negotiated in the same successful man- 
ner. And Churubusco was a formidable diffi- 
culty. The fortification was the thick, high 
wall of a hacienda, forming a square with a 
stone building higher than the wall, and a 
big stone church with lofty tower, the whole 
combination pierced with loopholes for 
musketry. 

Outside the walls were two fieldworks 
mounting several batteries of artiller}^; while 
the surrounding fields were well filled with 
sharpshooters. Assailed by Twiggs's men, 
Churubusco was handsomely taken, though 
at a heavy loss to the American troops. 

City Almost Within Grasp 

The City of Mexico was now almost within 
the grasp of our army, but still another ob- 

96 




The Capture of Chapultepec 



Our Mexican Conflicts 

stacle needed to be removed. That obstacle 
was Chapultepec. 

Chapultepec is an isolated rocky hill, 
crowned by a massive stone building, once the 
Bishop's palace, but later on converted into 
a strong fortress, heavily armed and garri- 
soned. A little way from Chapultepec, less 
than half a mile, was Casa de Mata, the cita- 
del circled with intrenchments and deep, wide 
ditches, so arranged that its garrison occu- 
pied two lines of defense. 

At the very foot of Chapultepec was Mo- 
lino del Rey, a number of stone buildings 
that had been used as a foundry. It guarded 
the only approach to Chapultepec, and had 
been made as strong as possible to protect 
that fortress. 

On the morning of the 8th of September, 
at break of day, the Americans attacked the 
Mata and Molino del Rey as preliminary to 
the main assault upon Chapultepec, the grand 
objective of their efforts. Before the im- 
petuous charges of the infantry, assisted by 

99 



Our Mexican Conflicts 

the fine work of the artillery, the positions 
were carried, though at a terrible sacrifice. 

It was the bloodiest day, for the invaders, 
of the whole war. Seven hundred and 
seventy-eight Americans were killed and 
wounded, fifty-eight of them being officers. 

The Mexican loss in killed, wounded and 
prisoners was over 3,000. 

American Colors Raised 

At dawn on the 12th, the American bat- 
teries began pounding Chapultepec and kept 
at it all day. The next day two assaulting 
columns, each of 250 picked men, selected 
from the divisions of Worth and Twiggs, 
bore down, from opposite directions, upon 
the grim old fortress. 

The garrison, realizing the supreme im- 
portance of the position, poured forth a hail 
of shot and shell upon the advancing columns, 
but it did not deter them. Pillow's men rolled 
up the rocky ascent, while from the opposite 

100 



Our Meocican Conflicts 

side Quitman's column kept steadily on, and 
by the help of scaling ladders the Americans 
were soon inside the walls. Those of the gar- 
rison that stood their ground were soon over- 
powered, and the American colors were soon 
flying from the ramparts. 

Chapultepec had fallen — and the way into 
the Mexican capital was at last open. 

On the 13th the Mexican forces began the 
evacuation of the city, and by one o'clock 
on the morning of the following day all that 
was left of Santa Anna's army was in bivouac 
at Guadalupe Hidalgo. 

About eight o'clock on the morning of the 
14th of September, General Scott and staff 
rode into the ancient capital of the Monte- 
zumas. Along the " Avenida de San Fran- 
cisco " he rode to the " Plaza de la Constitu- 
tion," entered the Palace, ordered the Flag 
raised from its towers, and the war was over. 



103 



Our Mexican Conflicts 

Magnificent Results 

The war with Mexico was fought, on the 
part of this country, with less than a hun- 
dred thousand men, a little over two-thirds of 
them being from the South, and much of 
the other third from the West. The num- 
ber of volunteers accepted by the Govern- 
ment and engaged in the service of the United 
States was 56,926. The number of regular 
troops was 26,400. The number of naval 
forces, teamsters and others was 13,000, mak- 
ing all told 96,500 men. 

The number of men engaged on the Mexi- 
can side was never known with accuracy, but 
we have data from which to infer that it could 
not have been less than 125,000. 

The infantry on both sides was equipped 
with the old smooth bore flint-lock musket, 
high mihtary authorities not being yet per- 
suaded of the advantages of percussion locks. 
The mounted men of both armies were what 
were then known as " light " cavalry or 

104 




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Our Meocican Conflicts 

" dragoons," armed with saber and carbine. 
The larger part of the Mexican cavalry car- 
ried the lance in addition to the other arms. 
In artillery the Mexicans were at a disad- 
vantage in comparison with the Americans, 
their guns being of the even then antiquated 
" Gribeauxel " type of various calibers and 
mounted on heavy, rough wheels. 

The mortality of the American troops in 
actual battle was small, about 5,000, but the 
deaths from wounds and sickness made the 
total loss in excess of 22,000. The malarial 
fevers killed four times as many as the Mexi- 
can bullets. 

The battle losses on the side of Mexico will 
never be known. With characteristic care- 
lessness, they never tabulated their casualties. 
But their actual killed in battle must have 
equaled our entire death list — that is, 22,000 
— to say nothing of the deaths from other 
causes. It has been estimated that the total 
Mexican mortality, actual killed, died of 
wounds, starvation and sickness, was about 

107 



Our Mexican Conflicts 

50,000 men — more than double that of the 
Americans. 

Mihtary circles the world over have not as 
yet ceased to wonder at the fact that the Mex- 
icans, in their struggle with the Americans, 
failed to win a single battle. Not once did 
they get a taste of victory. The Americans 
won every fight, and in most cases won over- 
whelmingly. 

This is all the more remarkable from the 
fact that the JNIexicans invariabl}^ had the ad- 
vantage in position and numbers. The Amer- 
icans were always the attacking party, and 
a ways the numerical odds were greatly 
against them. The odds against them were 
often five to one. At Palo Alto they were 
three to one, and the same at Resaca de 
la Palma ; at JNIonterey, two to one ; at Buena 
Vista, four to one; at Sacramento, the same; 
at Sierra Gordo, two to one; and in the final 
battles around the City of ]\Iexico the ratio 
was around three to five to one in favor of 
the Mexicans. 

108 



Our Meccican Conflicts 

The mystery is only intensified by the fact, 
admitted by all, that the Mexicans had plenty 
of courage and stood up to their work like 
men, and yet they were always beaten, and 
beaten ignominiously. 

The only explanation is to be foimd in the 
American superiority in sense, coolness and 
moral courage. The Americans never lost 
their heads, kept cool, and shot, not into the 
air but straight at the enemy. 

The war with Mexico cost the United 
States, in money actually paid out, $100,000,- 
000. Additional to this was the cost of the re- 
turn of the troops, extra pay and bounties, 
amounting to $12,500,000 — to say nothing of 
the pensions which, beginning with the close 
of the war, ran on for half a century. 

If we reckon in the $3,000,000 paid by way 
of claims against us by Mexican citizens and 
the $15,000,000 paid for the ceded territory, 
we have, as the grand total of cost to us of 
the Mexican War, $130,000,000. 

But even this, for the time, enormous sum 
109 



Our Mexican Conflicts 

was a mere trifle in comparison with the im- 
mense gain that came to us by way of war. 

By the terms of the Treaty of Guadalupe 
Hidalgo, signed February 2, 1848, the Ameri- 
can people came into possession of a territory 
equal in extent to 855,000 square miles, 
equivalent to seventeen States the size of 
New York. 

The territory thus acquired included ten 
degrees of latitude on the Pacific, and ex- 
tended east to the Rio Grande, a distance of 
one thousand miles. Five thousand miles 
of sea coast were added to the United States, 
including the finest of harbors, that behind 
the " Golden Gate," where the navies of all 
the nations might be sheltered at once. 

Cahfornia alone was worth many times the 
cost of the Mexican War. To say nothing 
of anything else, its gold has already put into 
the pockets of the American people a great 
deal more money than they paid out in fight- 
ing Mexico. 

To say nothing about Texas, the present 
110 



Our Meocican Conflicts 

wealth, in real estate and personal property, 
of the territory won by the war with Mex- 
ico — that is to say, of Utah, Arizona, Ne- 
vada, New Mexico, the half of Colorado, the 
southwest corner of Kansas and California — 
aggregates over $3,000,000,000— THREE 
THOUSAND MILLION DOLLARS— a 
result that amply justifies the expenditure of 
$130,000,000 in 1846-47. 

And it should not be overlooked that the 
great States mentioned are but just begin- 
ning their career. Irrigation and the " dry 
farming " idea will eventually make the re- 
gion which in the forties was known as the 
" Great American Desert " blossom like a 
tropical garden and teem with every con- 
ceivable form of agricultural and horticul- 
tural wealth. 

As for California, the " Italy of North 
America," its future is splendid beyond calcu- 
lation. Already rich, its potential wealth is 
such that the rosiest predictions might be 
more than fulfilled in the result. 

Ill 



Our Mexican Conflicts 

In this connection it ought to be said 
that had Jefferson Davis had his way the 
boundary line of the United States would 
have been fixed much further south than it 
was. Davis, with Houston, Dickinson, of 
New York; Douglas, of Illinois; Hannegan, 
of Indiana, and one of the Ohio Senators, 
wanted the boundary so fixed as to include 
the State of Tamaulipas and Nuevo Leon, 
the whole of Coahuila and the greater part 
of Chihuahua, but he was beaten by Calhoun, 
Benton, Herschel V. Johnson, Lewis Cass, 
of Michigan, and Mason, of Virginia. The 
United States has the same right to those 
States that it had to the rest, and had Davis 
been successful the northern half of INIexico, 
instead of being what it is — the breeding 
ground of revolutions and conspiracies and 
the theater of never-ending misery — would 
to-day be like California and the rest of the 
territory that came in along with it — rich, 
peaceful, happy; integral parts of the great, 
progressive republic. 

112 



Present Mexican Question 



THE PRESENT MEXICAN 
QUESTION 

The Influence of Racial Differences 

IT has been shown that among the various 
things leading up to the clash of arms was 
the racial difference between the peoples of 
the two Countries, the distinction in breed and 
blood, in temperament and morality. Oc- 
cupying different parts of the same conti- 
nent, and without any great natural bar- 
riers in the boundary lines between them, it 
was inevitable that between the Latin and the 
Saxon disputes should arise, misunderstand- 
ings, and eventually war. 

That blood is thicker than water, and that 
it is wonderfully tenacious and persistent, 
is being mightily corroborated in the hap- 
penings of these present days. In the light 
of current events it is clearly to be seen that 

117 



Our Meocican Conflicts 

the Mexicans of the year 1914 are just like the 
Mexicans of the year 1846, and it is equally 
clear that in many respects the JNIexicans of 
1846 were just like the Spaniards of Cortez, 
who, in 1519, wrote their story of blood, cru- 
elty and insincerity in Mexico. The real 
Mexicans, so far as this history goes, are not 
the aborigines, the native Indians found by 
the Spanish conquerors, but the Spaniards 
themselves, and their descendants, who, from 
the time of their coming right down to the 
present, have been responsible for whatever 
has happened in Mexico. 

A single historical incident will serve to 
show that four centuries have not changed 
the blood and breed and that the descendants 
of the conquerors are almost precisely what 
their ancestors were. Pizarro received from 
the Inca Atahualpa $5,000,000 in gold on the 
strength of the solemn promise that the Inca's 
life should be spared, a promise that he never 
intended to keep, and that was broken as soon 
as he got the gold. 

118 




PoRFiRio Diaz 



Our Meojican Conflicts 

Did we not have in Santa Anna a perfect 
replica of Pizarro; and in Huerta, Villa 
and Carranza, have we not striking repro- 
ductions of Santa Anna, the cruel, crafty, 
unscrupulous character who stopped at noth- 
ing that would further his designs ; who wrote 
to one of his Generals just before the out- 
break of the War against Texas, " You un- 
derstand that in this war there are to be no 
prisoners"; and who treated the immortal 
heroes of the Alamo precisely as Pizarro 
treated the Inca and his people? 

Well, because breed persists, the people of 
the United States had the same troubles with 
the Mexicans after the War of 1846-47 that 
they had had before ; and the troubles reached 
right down to the year 1876, when Porfirio 
Diaz took hold of the bankrupt and demor- 
alized wreckage of a half-century of civil 
war and made a nation out of it. From 1876 
till 1910 Diaz was Mexico. He put his foot 
down upon Civil War and kept it down. He 
made the Mexican people behave. He made 

121 



Our Meocican 'Conflicts 

them respect the constituted authorities. His 
reputation as a fighter was unquestioned, the 
people knew what Diaz could do, and they 
dared not invite his anger. 

With the peace-plank securely settled, Mex- 
ico began to prosper, life and property were 
reasonably safe. " Look after your own in- 
terests," said he to the people; " I will attend 
to the running of the country. Develop your 
industries. Don't bother about politics. I 
will look after that part of it." And so 
for a full generation the " Man of Iron " 
ruled Mexico, and in the main all was 
well. 

But it is the prerogative of age to be shaky. 
Most of the great, the daring things have 
been done by young men, or by men in the 
rugged prime of body and mind. Except 
in very rare cases, age paralyzes the will, de- 
stroys initiative and cripples the gaudmm 
certaminis that is so essential to the holding 
of a commanding position among one's 
fellow-men. • 

122 




ViCTORIANA HUERTA 



Our Meocican Conflicts 

Along came Francesco Madero, astute, a 
" good fellow " among his countrymen, an 
aristocrat, rich, but charmingly democratic 
in his ways. Madero caught the ears of the 
groundlings, captured the good-will and con- 
fidence of the Peons and it was apparent to 
all — to Diaz more clearly than to anyone else 
— that the young man had a Presidential bee 
in his bonnet. 

The old man who had reigned for so long 
clapped the young man into jail — and for a 
wonder Madero got out of prison alive, 
skipped across the line into Texas and from 
San Antonio, the old city of the Alamo, 
started a revolution. Higher and higher rose 
the waters of revolt. Every day Madero 
gained prestige and the old " Man of Iron " 
lost it. Blacker and heavier grew the po- 
litical storm-clouds — and, trembling at the 
prospect of the coming tempest, Porfirio 
Diaz fled the country. In due course of time 
Madero became President. 

But Madero was not Diaz. His was not 
125 



Our Mecvican* Conflicts 

the hand of steel. Good fellows do not, as 
a rule, make successful Dictators in the 
midst of an ignorant and morally immature 
people — and anarchy and misrule began again 
to lift their heads. 

Along the border, and throughout the 
country, wherever Mexicans came in con- 
tact with Americans and other non-Mexican 
residents, there was friction; business became 
unsettled; investments began to be insecure, 
the condition of things that Diaz put down, 
and kept down for thirty-five years, began 
to show itself again. 

A few dates are essential here. Porfirio 
Diaz was " elected " for the last time July 
26, 1910. Madero's revolution broke out 
about February 18, 1910, a few months after 
his miraculous escape from prison. Diaz re- 
signed the Presidency May 25, 1911. Ma- 
dero assumed the office October 8, 1911. 
jNIadero was assassinated February 23, 
1913. 

From the inception of the revolution to 
126 




Francesco Madero 



Our Meojican Conflicts 

Madero's death — a period of two years and 
three months — ^Mexico was in a state of chaos, 
and any other people than those of the United 
States would have gone into the country with 
the strong arm of the military and put an 
end to the bloody and world-disturbing farce. 
In spite of the good intentions of Madero, 
the lives and property of Americans and Eu- 
ropeans were in perpetual jeopardy, and al- 
most every day things occurred that shocked 
the world, culminating in the foul murder 
of Madero and the unspeakably infamous 
regime of Huerta. 

It is with Huerta that we must deal next 
— Huerta, the strange compound of lago, 
Caliban and Genghis Khan. , 

Huerta's Reign of Terror 

The characterization of the Mexican Dic- 
tator as being a combination of cruelty, brut- 
ishness and heartless cunning is not a whit 
too strong. To put it as mildly as is pos- 

129 



Our Meocican Conflicts 

sible, it must be said that he is bej^ond doubt 
one of the worst men that have ever figured 
upon the stage of history. 

It must be remembered that his monster 
crime — the assassination of JNIadero — was 
committed in the second decade of the Twen- 
tieth Century, and in bold and brazen de- 
fiance of the latest and finest humanity of 
the ages. With the nonchalance of a Corsair, 
he mopped up the blood of the kindest- 
hearted man that had ever occupied the chair 
of the Mexican Presidency and deliberately 
threw the gory clout square into the face of 
the noblest sentiment of the day. 

All things considered, that crime of Feb- 
ruary 23, 1913, is without a parallel in his- 
tory, and were there a Shakespeare in our 
midst he would put it into a drama that would 
make " Macbeth " look as tame as a Sunday- 
school essay, or one of Mr. Bryan's Chau- 
tauqua addresses. 

Not only was that crime committed — de- 
liberately, coolly, with malice aforethought — 

130 



Our Meocican Conflicts 

but at his order the assassin's court declared 
that it was all right, and that their Master 
was one of the noblest benefactors of their 
country and of the human race. 

It is not to be wondered at that the United 
States Government stoutly and persistently 
refused to give official recognition to this 
twentieth century barbarian. Is it any won- 
der that the land of Washington should re- 
fuse to officially shake hands, in the person 
of its President, with the man who was so 
brutally defiant to all the things that Wash- 
ington stood for and loved? 

Nor must it be forgotten that the Mex- 
ican people themselves refused to recognize 
Huerta. In the more progressive and en- 
hghtened North and Northwest the people 
were ashamed of him and of his unblushing 
crimes, and willingly followed the lead of 
those who would put him down. 

It is true that Villa and Carranza are far 
from being ideal leaders; it is true that there 
is blood, and unrighteous blood, too, upon 

133 



Our 31 ea^ican* Conflicts 

their hands also; but they are a shade less 
villainous than Huerta. 

In Milton's immortal poem, " Satan," view- 
ing the wreck that his unholy ambition had 
, made, exclaimed, " Evil, be thou my good," 
and that is what Huerta has said down in 
the land of the JNIontezumas. He has cre- 
ated a hell there, and solemnly dedicated him- 
self to its perpetuation. He has raised the 
black flag against humanity, and sworn that 
his highest joy shall consist in flouting its 
finest sentiment and outraging its noblest 
instincts. He has said to himself, " Evil, be 
thou my good." 

Perhaps there is no other place on earth 
where human life is so cheap, or human ex- 
istence so wretched, as in Mexico to-day un- 
der the monstrous dictatorship of Victoriana 
Huerta. No man is sure of his life from 
day to day, or from hour to hour. The set- 
tled order that is supposed to be found in 
civilized communities, and that certainly 
should be found on the North American 

134 



Our Meocican Conflicts 

Continent and in close proximity to the 
United States of America, has departed, and 
instead of well-grounded peace, industry and 
progress there are constant unrest, uncer- 
tainty and confusion. 

The wealth of Mexico is in its mines, fruit- 
eries and cattle ranches, but these are utterly 
demoralized. Industry of every form is para- 
lyzed. The richest country of the whole earth 
in natural resources is producing nothing. 
American and European capital no longer 
goes into Mexico; and millions of dollars 
invested in the country might as well be at 
the bottom of the sea. They bring no re- 
turns, and what is more, they never will, 
since the very plants themselves have been 
deliberately destroyed or confiscated, or per- 
mitted to go to wreck and ruin. 

These are some of the things, therefore, 
that the people of the United States have 
against the Mexicans in general, and Victo- 
riana Huerta in particular. Huerta must 
go. His presence at the head of the so- 

137 



Our Mexican XJonflicts 

called Mexican government is worse than a 
farce — it is a monstrosity and a menace. 
Says one who has studied the situation at 
close range: 

" He cooked the elections so that he might 
be returned as President, although he 
had not offered himself as a candidate. 
His plan was that the new Congress, consist- 
ing, for the most part, of his relatives and 
supporters, should declare the election void, 
but ask him to remain in office until the coun- 
try could be sufficiently ' Pacified ' for a first 
choice to be made. I am assured that he 
confided to a friend that no election would 
be possible for a long time, and that he then 
counted upon being elected President him- 
self. That was in an expansive mood, how- 
ever. As a rule, he confides in nobody. Even 
his Ministers are kept in ignorance of what 
his next move is to be. He summons them 
suddenly, sometimes in the early hours of the 
morning, and tells them what they are to 
do. If they argue they are dismissed. Sefior 

138 



Our Mexican Conflicts 

Garza Aldape advised him to resign, and 
pointed out that the meeting of Congress 
would be illegal. He was not only deprived 
of his office, but packed off, at less than 
twelve hours' notice, to France." 

It is clearly the sense of the American peo- 
ple that any " Mediation " with Huerta is 
out of place; that even the thought of it is 
absurd and intolerable; and that the only 
thing to do is not to mediate with him, but 
to oust him — and to oust him at once. He 
stands in the way of any successful settle- 
ment of the Mexican difficulty, and not until 
he is put out of the way can even the begin- 
ning of such settlement be made. 

Our Duty to Mankind, to Mexico and 
TO Ourselves 

We come now to the memorable incident of 
the 9th of April, 1914, which is best told in 
the concise and straightforward dispatch to 
the New York American, from Mexico City: 

141 



Our Mexican Conflicts 

" Mexico City, April 10. — The paymaster 
and a detachment of marines from the United 
States gunboat Dolphin were arrested yes- 
terday by a Mexican officer at Tampico, 
marched through the streets and, after being 
held for a time, were released on the demand 
of Rear- Admiral Mayo." 

The launch from the Dolphin carrying the 
paymaster and the small detachment of ma- 
rines had put in at Iturbide Bridge, Tam- 
pico, to obtain a supply of gasoline. They 
wore the uniform of the United States Navy, 
but were unarmed. Above the launch floated 
the American flag. 

Here was a real situation, one that occurs 
but seldom in the life of any Nation. The 
flag of the greatest nation on earth had been 
grossly insulted. The honor of that nation 
had received the rudest possible affront. The 
flag of a nation is a nation's emblem, the sign 
that stands for its physical, intellectual, 
moral and political integrity and dignity, and 
to insult the flag is to insult the nation itself. 

142 




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Our Mexican Conflicts 

It is worse than false, it is arrant nonsense 
and drivel, to say, as some do, that the flag 
is simply a piece of bunting, a mere rag bear- 
ing a few legends, and that it cannot be pos- 
sible to insult such insensate things. Such 
talk comes only from fools or traitors. It 
is never heard from the lips of a sensible 
man or a patriot. 

The flag is indeed a piece of bunting, but 
it is a piece of bunting that heralds forth 
and stands for the majesty and self-respect 
of the nation in whose name it flies ; and it is 
impossible to lose your respect for and inter- 
est in the flag, without at the same time losing 
your respect for and interest in the nation. 

When Huerta's Government insulted the 
United States flag at Tampico, it was an in- 
sult to every one of the hundred million 
American people. When his minions, disre- 
garding the flag that flew above the launch 
at Tampico, laid hands on our paymaster 
and marines, and paraded them, under ar- 
rest, through the streets of the Mexican town, 

145 



Our Mexican ^Conflicts 

he committed the affront against our country 
that sent the flush of indignation to the face 
of every patriotic American. Nor was that 
flush the sign of criminal hate or barbaric 
anger: it was the token of the highest and 
holiest feeling that can thrill the heart of 
man — a protest against the humiliation of his 
country in the eyes of the world. 

Of course, the United States Government, 
immediately upon being informed of the Tam- 
pico incident, demanded an apology in the 
shape of a salute to the flag that had been 
so wantonly and unjustifiably insulted. And 
what happened? Was the salute forthcom- 
ing? Did the guns of the Government that 
had insulted the flag sound forth the amende 
honorable? Not at all. Instead, the insult 
was only repeated by the impudent proposi- 
tion from Huerta that he would " consent " 
to the giving, of the salute demanded by our 
Government if the Government would either 
simultaneously or immediately thereafter re- 
turn the honors by saluting the INIexican flag. 

146 



Our Mexican Conflicts 

Did impudent audacity ever mount higher? 
In all the stories of all the nations is there 
to be found another case of such superlative 
insolence ? 

For days the insolent Mexican Dictator 
played with the Administration at Washing- 
ton as the cat plays with the mouse. There 
was an infinitude of dilly-dallying, attended 
by no end of " watchful waiting," and then, 
when it was evident to all that the patience of 
the American people was about exhausted, 
away went the battleships, Vera Cruz was cap- 
tured, at the expense of the lives of several of 
our Sailor boys, and the forces of the United 
States were at last fairly planted upon the 
soil of the nation that had so long tried us. 

Following hard after the American occu- 
pation of Vera Cruz came the preparations 
for the mobilizing of the army. Recruiting 
began. General Funston was sent with a 
portion of the Regular Army to prepare for 
the march to Mexico City. The Red Cross 
was ready to embark for its work in the field. 

149 



Our Mexican Conflicts 

Everybody said: "At last the provocations 
of generations, the misrule, cruelty and wrong 
of three-quarters of a century are about to 
have their ending." 

But the course of true justice, like that 
of true love, does not always run smooth, 
and the stream of events was suddenly turned 
out of its channel by a proposition from the 
" A. B. C." Company down in South Amer- 
ica. Argentina, Brazil and Chili asked our 
President to let them try to settle the diffi- 
culty — and the President, accepting the A. B. 
C. suggestion, resumed the old attitude of 
" watchful waiting." 

Waiting for what? To see if we cannot 
avoid going to war. Mr. Bryan, with the 
Dove of Peace on his shoulder and a glass 
of grape- juice by his side, dreaming covet- 
ously of the Nobel Prize, is trembling lest we 
should come to blows with Mexico, and Mr. 
Carnegie is so afraid that somebody may get 
hurt that he can only with the greatest diffi- 
culty contain himself. 

150 




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Our Mexican Conflicts 

But war, bad as it is, is not the worst 
thing in the world. All the world would be 
like Mexico to-day but for war. War has 
been the great civilizer and preserver of civ- 
ilization. But for war we would be British 
subjects right now. But for war the oases 
of light and progress in the ancient world 
would have been swallowed up in the great 
ocean of barbarism. It was war, carried 
on by the legions of Rome, that civilized Eu- 
rope, that supplanted ignorance and brute 
force by culture and humanity, and it was 
war again, waged by the Northern peoples, 
that swept Rome out of the way after she 
had become a pestiferous mass of corrup- 
tion, thus saving civilization for the second 
time. 

But for war it would not be possible for 
any man to think, speak, write or live, except 
in the way prescribed for him by tyrannical 
authority. 

War, or no war, however, the judgment of 
history is that now that we are in Mexico it 

153 



Our Mexican Conflicts 

is our duty, to ourselves, to the Mexicans and 
to the rest of mankind, to stay there. If 
Mexico is ever to be raised from the " dead 
level to the living perpendicular," the lifting 
must be done by some other hand than her 
own. The most beautiful of the lands of the 
earth, it seems a pity and a shame that Mex- 
ico cannot be the abode of peace and plenty, 
of happiness and universal good-will, and 
this can be brought about by the United 
States, and by the United States only. There 
are one or two other nations that might do 
it, but the Monroe Doctrine, which we must 
maintain inviolate, stands in the way of their 
performing the task; and it falls to us 
to bring about the devoutly-to-be-wished-for 
consummation. 

Is the Mexican anarchy to be eternal? 
Must the beautiful land forever lie waste? 
Must the throat-cutting go on perpetually? 
Is there no balm in Gilead? Must the sun, 
for ages upon ages, keep on rising and set- 
ting upon ruins and death? 

154 



Our Meocican Conflicts 

Then the United States, now that her 
foot is planted upon the soil of the glorious 
but long grief -ridden land, must never re- 
move it. There must not only be war — if 
it is necessary — but the war must be fol- 
lowed by a permanent American occupancy. 
It is the only wise and efficient way out of 
the difficulty. 

What the Mexicans used to be they are 
to-day, and what they are to-day they will 
unquestionably be a hundred or a thousand 
years from now — if left to themselves. 

If they are straightened out by the United 
States, and left again to their own initiative, 
the same old Mexicans will begin again the 
same old game of revolution and ruin. It 
is as certain as anything can be that such 
will be the case. Take away the pressure 
of the strong hand, and up will bob the old 
insurrections, the old carnivals of blood and 
death. The Americans away, and the specter 
of ruin will resume its appalling flight over 
the land, and in place of the happy laughter 

157 



Our Mea^ican •Conflicts 

of little children, and the hum of contented 
industry, and the happiness of settled order, 
would be heard again the lamentations of 
those whom none will be able to comfort. 

The flag is planted in Mexico, and there 
let it stay. To take it down would be the 
master crime of the Ages. 



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